Any Helpful Advice?

[Talk2tjj]

Hello!   I'm glad I found y'all on the Web.   I'm a second grade teacher in Utah and have received a grant for hermies in my room.   I'm new to Hermit Crabs and can use any advice you can give.   With the grant,  I received a 10 gallon Zoo Med tank start -up kit and,  from readings here,  know not to use the sand that came in it.  Should I get a 20 gallon instead? I also received a coupon for hermies at 1/2 price but would rather lose out on that and wait to get them.

I have not gotten my crabbies yet.   I want to set up my tank and know what I'm doing BEFORE getting them and stressing them out.   I also would like to know if I should get an intermittent humidifier/fogger...?... They will be in the classroom over weekends unless we have a day off, then they will come home with me. 

They will be taken care of by my students with constant supervision from me.   My classroom has plants, chicks,  butterflies,  praying mantis,  and lady bugs each spring and are successfully cared for by the class but the hermies will be permanent.  I chose them because of their excellent healthy eating choices!  The students will learn so much from them!  So well I! 

Please,  any and all advice welcome.  I want to do right by the babies and teach my students to care for them properly.

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[soilentgringa]

Hi! Welcome. The very first thing I would recommend is to read the care guides thoroughly.

Land hermit crabs are all caught in the wild, which affects their ecosystem and causes them a great deal of stress.

They generally view anything larger than them as a predator and it is suggested that you remain as "hands off" as possible.

They are also nocturnal and spend a lot of time underground so if you are wanting an animal that your students can observe, they may not be ideal for your classroom.

At any rate, they are very interesting. If you decide to get some, I encourage you to adopt.

Here is a link to the guides:
http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... hp?t=92457

Again, Welcome!!!

[Talk2tjj]

Thank you! I've started to read through the care guides and I'll look into adoption in my area.

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[Rawrgeous]

I just wanted to say welcome to the forum!

[Talk2tjj]

Thank you, Rawrgeous!

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[aussieJJDude]

Welcome! *waves*

Pretty much all the guides offer helpful advise to get one started comfortably! Good luck, hopefully we see all the pictures of the new additions and their crabitat.

[hprmom]

Hi and welcome! Just want to say it's great to see a teacher here. We actually got into hermit crabs because my son's science teacher sent each child home with one as a pet (we attend a small homeschool academy). This was after she recommended we all buy a betta fish because they are "easy to care for", and also after she sent each child home with a mystery snail... It was "included in the lab fee" and was also supposed to be "easy to care for"! The hermit crab was preceded by an email to parents with a link to a website, which while not as thorough as the HCA nevertheless had plenty of information indicating that a hermit crab was NOT as easy to care for as the teacher thought it would be!

So as a parent, I thank you for doing the research, and also for providing so many great opportunities for your students to observe and learn to care for animals in your classroom... without sending animals home to questionable fates!

If you think you'll be regularly moving the crabs between your classroom and home, that might be a consideration in the size of your tank. When we adopted our most recent three, they came with a 20 gallon tank and we had to half-empty it of substrate before we could even attempt to move it, and then it took two grown men to lift. I can't even lift our fully-loaded 10 gallon without help. Sand is heavy! Maybe you could keep a back-up habitat at home and move them in a small container, but others more experienced than I would have to tell you if that's unduly stressful for the crabs (plus what would you do if one was buried?).

While hermit crabs are nocturnal, I think they're also individuals so you never know, you might get one that likes to be out during the day. Our Hermie is an early bird, I think he enjoys having the run of the tank while everyone else is holed up sleeping. I get to watch him putter around while I drink my morning tea. Before we combined everyone into one big (65g) tank, the crabs definitely had a "schedule": In the 10g they had a habit of coming out in the late afternoon, then not again until 10pm. In our 20g, big Junior kept to a routine so predictable that we knew exactly where to spot him at certain times of day!

Best wishes and have fun!

[Talk2tjj]

Welcome! *waves*

Pretty much all the guides offer helpful advise to get one started comfortably! Good luck, hopefully we see all the pictures of the new additions and their crabitat.

Thank you!


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[Talk2tjj]

Hi and welcome! Just want to say it's great to see a teacher here. We actually got into hermit crabs because my son's science teacher sent each child home with one as a pet (we attend a small homeschool academy). This was after she recommended we all buy a betta fish because they are "easy to care for", and also after she sent each child home with a mystery snail... It was "included in the lab fee" and was also supposed to be "easy to care for"! The hermit crab was preceded by an email to parents with a link to a website, which while not as thorough as the HCA nevertheless had plenty of information indicating that a hermit crab was NOT as easy to care for as the teacher thought it would be!

So as a parent, I thank you for doing the research, and also for providing so many great opportunities for your students to observe and learn to care for animals in your classroom... without sending animals home to questionable fates!

If you think you'll be regularly moving the crabs between your classroom and home, that might be a consideration in the size of your tank. When we adopted our most recent three, they came with a 20 gallon tank and we had to half-empty it of substrate before we could even attempt to move it, and then it took two grown men to lift. I can't even lift our fully-loaded 10 gallon without help. Sand is heavy! Maybe you could keep a back-up habitat at home and move them in a small container, but others more experienced than I would have to tell you if that's unduly stressful for the crabs (plus what would you do if one was buried?).

While hermit crabs are nocturnal, I think they're also individuals so you never know, you might get one that likes to be out during the day. Our Hermie is an early bird, I think he enjoys having the run of the tank while everyone else is holed up sleeping. I get to watch him putter around while I drink my morning tea. Before we combined everyone into one big (65g) tank, the crabs definitely had a "schedule": In the 10g they had a habit of coming out in the late afternoon, then not again until 10pm. In our 20g, big Junior kept to a routine so predictable that we knew exactly where to spot him at certain times of day!

Best wishes and have fun!

I'm still laughing! I cannot imagine sending an animal home with each child but commend you for providing a great home! Thanks for the info. I was wondering how heavy the tank would be and also if it's possible to keep 2 habitats for them. I'll look more into that and, hopefully, it will work.

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[hprmom]

I'm still laughing! I cannot imagine sending an animal home with each child but commend you for providing a great home! Thanks for the info. I was wondering how heavy the tank would be and also if it's possible to keep 2 habitats for them. I'll look more into that and, hopefully, it will work.

It is quite comical... in retrospect! At the time I was Not Amused! Poor "the original Hermie" (as my son recalls him) passed from PPS after only four days. I discovered the HCA on Day 2 and my consolation was that he dragged himself to a last meal of peanut butter and honey, validating that I had finally found a source of good information with a method of care crabs respond to. Within a couple of weeks we had our second chance, adopting crabs from a friend whose children had lost interest. With info from the HCA forums we transformed their 10 gallon tank; they responded with successful molts and here we are today. Keep us posted on your progress!

[Talk2tjj]

My tank is up and in the classroom. I have 3 little guys in there but can only find one of them. He changed shells the same day I put them in. Is it normal to not be able to find the other two?

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[pandapopulus]

My tank is up and in the classroom. I have 3 little guys in there but can only find one of them. He changed shells the same day I put them in. Is it normal to not be able to find the other two?

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I'm brand new to crabbing and am still figuring things out day by day. (So someone else would surely be able to provide more experience-based knowledge..But I also have not seen one of mine in almost a week.)

The first day (8/11) I introduced my 3 crabbies to their tank one of them buried themselves completely and haven't seen them yet. Today (8/17), my two other guys buried themselves. I have been informed this could be their method of destressing given the horrific conditions our crabs have to endure before arriving to us. It is also possible that this is their first experience in captivity with adequate amounts of substrate, so they are taking advantage of the opportunity to molt under ground.

Tonight, I very gently smoothed out the sand around my food and water dishes to help keep track of who is where and whether they will be visiting the food dish tonight, etc.


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[Talk2tjj]

Thanks. You made me feel better about not seeing two of them.

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[HermiesIsMine]

I currently have 4 crabbies one has been down burried for 2 weeks now molting (hopefully he comes up soon) and so I had 3 left roaming untill 2 nights ago when 2 of them went down under and now I only have 1 loan crabby roaming around so yes absolutely normal between the posssibilities of them destressing and then after given ideal conditions after so many bad environmental conditions they can go down to squeeze in a molt

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[Talk2tjj]

Oh, good. I haven't seen any evidence of molting..actually, I'm not sure what I'd see...but I also haven't seen anything that looks like they've died. So I'll believe they are hiding or molting. [SMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]

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